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Performance of ball-milling-modified coal gangue on Pb2+, Zn2+, and NH4+–N adsorption

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Abstract

As the numerous industrial solid waste, coal gangue caused serious environmental pollution in China, while the it could be modified and reused as an effective adsorption material in environmental remediation. In the current study, the coal gangue was modified by environmentally friendly ball-milling chemical modification method and used for simultaneous adsorption heavy metal and ammonia in wastewater. Both the initial and modified coal gangue were characterized for structure and composition. Optimization of ball-milling conditions and adsorption parameters was carried out, followed by thermodynamic and kinetic experiments under the defined conditions. The results showed that the adsorption of Pb2+, Zn2+, and NH4+–N accorded with the quasi-second-order kinetic model, with all adsorption isotherms conforming to the Langmuir model. Thermodynamic analysis indicates that the adsorption of Pb2+, Zn2+, and NH4+–N is an exothermic process, and the adsorption reaction can occur independently. Moreover, modified coal gangue exhibited sufficient adsorption sites for the combination of Pb2+, Zn2+, and NH4+–N at low concentrations in adsorption competition experiment, with an adsorption sequence like Pb2+ > Zn2+ > NH4+–N. Our results provide that ball-milling-modified coal gangue can be used as a helpful adsorption material for heavy metal ions and ammonia removal in wastewater treatment.

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Acknowledgements

The project is supported by Technological Innovation Guidance Program of Jiangxi Province (20212BDH81029) and Science and Technology Major Program of Ordos City (2022EEDSKJZDZX014-1). This study was also funded by the Key Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ZDRW–CN–2021-3-3) and Self-deployed Projects of Ganjiang Innovation Academy, Chinese Academy of Sciences (E055A001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Materials Metallurgy and Chemistry, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou, 341000, China

    Hualin Zhang, Mengfei Zhao, Youming Yang & Tinggang Li

  2. Key Laboratory of Rare Earths, Jiangxi Institute of Rare Earths, Ganjiang Innovation Academy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ganzhou, 341119, China

    Hualin Zhang, Xiaoliang Jiang, Mengfei Zhao, Xingyu Ma & Tinggang Li

  3. CAS Key Laboratory of Green Process and Engineering, Innovation Academy for Green Manufacture, National Engineering Research Center of Green Recycling for Strategic Metal Resources, Beijing Engineering Research Centre of Process Pollution Control, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Tinggang Li

  4. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Tinggang Li

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  1. Hualin Zhang
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Zhang, H., Jiang, X., Zhao, M. et al. Performance of ball-milling-modified coal gangue on Pb2+, Zn2+, and NH4+–N adsorption. J Mater Cycles Waste Manag (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-024-01947-1

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